Man sentenced to 25 years in prison following drug-related deaths of 2 men in Indiana

DEARBORN COUNTY, Ind. (WXIX) - A man was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison followed by 15 years of probation for the fentanyl-related deaths of two men in Indiana, according to Dearborn County Prosecuting Attorney Lynn Deddens.

Dearborn County Judge Sally McLaughlin sentenced Seth Donohue, 25, of Brookville, Indiana after he pleaded guilty to drug charges related to the deaths of 23-year-olds Jacob Berting and Garrett Johnson, Deddens said.

Deddens states that on Sept. 7, 2020, crews were called to Berting’s home in West Harrison after Berting’s family found him unconscious and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police stated that they found fentanyl at the home.

Officers discovered that Berting was battling opioid addiction and recently completed a drug rehab program.

According to an autopsy, Berting died of an overdose of Fentanyl and Acetyl Fentanyl.

Detectives with the Dearborn County Sheriff’s Department discovered that Donohue and another suspect, Karina Gonzalez, were allegedly responsible for selling the drugs to Berting.

Berting’s death was posted on social media. So Johnson’s mother reached out to Berting’s mother through social media and stated that her son died about a month prior to Berting’s death from a fentanyl overdose, Deddens said.

Deddens adds that Johnson’s mother believed that Donohue may have been the one who sold her son the drugs.

Dearborn County detectives, investigators from the prosecutor’s office, and police determined that Donohue also sold the drugs that killed Garrett Johnson, 23, of Brookville, Indiana.

Deddens says that Gonzalez is still pending trial.

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